Strut hanger tube assembly



Nov. '15, 1960 A. D; 10E 2,959,846

STRUT HANGER .TUBE ASSEMBLY Filed Aug. 25, 1957 Y 5 sheets-sheet 1 I Nov. 15, 1960 A. D. lDE 2,959,846

7 STRUT HANGER TUBE ASSEMBLY Filed Aug. 23, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 15, 1960 Filed Aug. 23, 1957 A. D. lDE

STRUT HANGER TUBE ASSEMBLY 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 1960 .AQD. lDE 2,959,846

STRUT HANGER TUBE ASSEMBLY f Filed Aug. 25, 1957 s Sheets-Sheet 4 N \N) v} Nov. 15, 1960 A. D. lDE 2, 9,8

STRUT HANGER TUBE ASSEMBLY Filed Aug. 23, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 lll l 3020276757 @ZZeW'Z D. Zd

div/g 5 F 5M m/wezm Unite This invention pertains. to garment hangers, and in particular to. an apparatus for assembling a garment hanger comprised of two. wire struts interconnected by a tubular member.

Garment hangers comprised of two wire struts interconnected by a tubular member have a greater structural rigidity than the ordinary wire garment hanger. However, in spite of this fact, the former has never equalled the popularity of the latter because of the diiiicultiy and cost in assembling the tubes with the wire portion. Heretofere, it has been necessary to carry out this operation manually, which by nature would limit the volume and out ut nd e se h s a ompa d to ha o an automat c a semb v ce er fo ei is an obiert f. the invention to provide an apparatus for assembling the a r ment ed yp o garm ha g t at s el in construction.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for assembling the aforementioned type garment hangers that is completely automatic in operation.

A, still further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for assembling the aforementioned type garment hangers that will permit relatively high volume production at relatively low cost per unit.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for assembling the aforementioned type garment hangers that is simple and economical in construction and operation.

These and still further objects will be apparent, upon development of the specification with reference to the drawings.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view in elevation of the. apparatus embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a front view in elevation, of the apparatus shown n re Figure 3 is a rear view in elevation of: the; apparatus shown in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a front view'in elevation of the apparatus illustrating the method of operation.

Figure 5 is a plan view in elevation of the apparatus.

Figure 6 is a side view in elevation in detail.

Referring now to Figure 2, there is shown a hanger of the type described, generally denoted by the. numeral 10. The hanger. in its preferred embodimentis formed of a single piece of wire, bent back on itself and looped to form a hook portion 11- and twisted and still further; bent to form the shoulders 13 and the depending struts 12. Each of these struts 12 terminates in a bent, portion 14 and a return bent portion 15, as shown in the drawing. As will be seen later on, the return bent portion 15 is adapted to be received in a tubular member, of appropriate diameter which holds. the struts 12 in a spread out position suitable for hanging garments. Gen; erally the wire has been painted and dried in some suitable manner before it reaches this part of'the op- States Patent 2,959,846 Patented Nov. 15, 1960 eration, although it is not necessary to the practice of the invention.

As shown in Figure 1, the hangers are fed into the assembly apparatus from any suitable source generally designated by the numeral 16, such as a chute or conveyor belt, or it is conceivable that they may be supplied manually as will be apparent later on. It is conplated that the hangers may be conveyed directly from the wire forming and painting apparatus onto the as! sembly apparatus described hereinafter.

As the hangers slide down on the chute 16, they are deposited on the rotatable member 17 which is driven by a motor (not shown) through the belt or chain drive 18.. The rotatable member is provided with a screw thread 19 which feeds the hanger into the assembly apparatus, as will be explained later on. In the preferred embodiment the neck intermediate the shoulders 13 rides in the groove 19 although it is conceivable that it may be desirable to let the hook portion 11 ride in the spiral thread 19. The grooved portion of the thread 19 is, preferably very shallow, in order that the hangers,

if they become bunched at the left end of member 17, can ride over into the raised portion. This is necessary so that only one hanger is taken off at a time, as will be apparent later on.

At the left end of the rotatable member 17 is a panel member 20' to which is secured the various elements for assembling the hanger. Depending from the panel member 20 is the arm 21 which supports a rotatable member 1 7 in a desirable position relative to the panel membe As the hanger reaches the end of the rotatable mem ber- 17, it is lifted therefrom by the hook member 22 which is rotatably secured to the panel member 20. The latter carries the hanger from the right hand side of the panel 20 to the left hand side as best shown in Figure 1. Referring now to Figure 2 the panel 20 is, provided with cut away opening 20a which permits clearance of the struts 12 as the hanger 1G is being carried: by the hook member 22. As shown in the drawings, it; may be desirable to provide the guide bars .2 for preventing lateral motion of the hangers asv they; travel along the rotatable member. When the hanger 1.0; reaches the left hand side position, it drops off the hook'ZZ; onto the guide members 23 and is held there briefly until the next operation. While in this position; the; struts 12 embrace the fingers 24 which ride in the grooves25. The fingers 24: are provided with a rotatable end 26. as shown in Figure 1, in order to provide a suita ablebearing surface between the finger and the strut. Asthe fingersmove outwardly to expand the struts as shown in. Figure 4, the guide members 23: are retracted to. allow. the hanger todrop downwardly, as will be apparent: later on. When. the fingers reach their outermost position, a tube 27 is positioned between the bent por-'v tions: 15 of the hanger. At this. time the fingers then begin to move inwardly, allowing the hook portions to engage the internal bore of the tube 27., as shown in Figure- 4; The hanger is then assembled and removed aswillfbe explained in' greater detail later on.

'Fhetubes 27: are. generally constructed of cardboard, although other materials such as plastic may belUSQd T-Y 'Eheyare generally. preformed, into. appropriate diamete and; length, ready to be assembled with the wire portion 110.,- a wi l; be en' at ron.

Referring now to Figure 3, there is; shown the; right, handside of the panel- 20 to, which? is secured the driving arrangement for. the. various, elements, mounted thereen A circular disk 28.is rotatably mounted on thepane is, providedwiththe flangevlfl. A link 3,0 is pivf otally connected to the flange 29 at one end and is connected at the other end to the eccentric arm 32 which in turn is connected to the gear box 31. The gear box 31 is driven by any suitable means and causes the link 30 to reciprocate which in turn oscillates the disk 28. Two link members 34 are pivotally connected at oneend to the disk 28 near its periphery at substantially diametrically opposite positions. The links 34 are pivotally connected at their other ends to the links 35 which are in turn pivotally mounted on the panel 20. The links 35 are secured to the fingers 24 which reciprocate in the grooves 25 as was explained previously. A second disk 36 is nonrotatably mounted on the disk 28 by the shaft 37. Secured to the disk 36 near its periphery is a shaft 38 which is connected at its other end to the hook 22. Both the disk 36 and the hook 22 are provided with the ball joint connections 39 and 40 for connecting the rod 38. thereto. The rod 38 may be secured to the ball joint connections by threads or any other means which will permit varying of the length between thehook 22 and the disk 36. In this manner the relative relationship of the book 22 to the disk 36 can be adjusted until they are in proper sequence.

The guide members 23 are pivotally connected to the plate 20 by the hinge 41 and bracket 42. The bracket 42 is provided with a tongue 44 which is biased upwardly by the coil spring 45 as shown in Figure 1. A pin 46 extends rearwardly of the bracket 42 through the. plate 20 behind the disk 28. The pin 46 co-operates with a cam surface 47 mounted on the disk 28 to oscillate the bracket 42 and thus move the guide members 23 in and out of operative position.

It can now be seen that when the link 30 is reciprocated, the disk 28 is rotatably oscillated first in a clockwise direction and then in a counterclockwise direction. When this happens, the links 35 are pivoted by thelinks 34 and move the fingers 24 along the slots 25. At the same time the disk 36 is oscillated in the same manner as the disk 28 so that the rod 38 is reciprocated which in turn oscillates the hook 22. It can now be seen that when the fingers 24 are in their inward positions, the hook 22 should be in the position for releasing the hanger, so that it will drop along the left hand face of the panel 20. At the same time the guide members are correlated with the hook 20 so that they catch the hanger as it falls, in the manner previously described. As soon as the hanger falls into position, the fingers 24 start moving toward their outer positions, and the guide members 23 are retracted by the spring 45, allowing the hanger to drop downwardly. At the same time, the fingers 24 spread the struts of the hanger, as was explained previously.

Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown a bin, generally denoted by the numeral 48, in which the tubes 27 may be stored. The bin 48 is provided with the inclined members 50 and 51 which feed the tubes 27 to the opening 49. The opening 49 is wide enough to accommodate one tube 27 at a time. Associated with the opening 49 are the star wheels 52 which are mounted on the shaft 52a and are provided with the arcuate slots 53 for receiving the tubes 27. As the tube drops from the bin 48 into the slot 53, it is held there initially by the shroud 54. When the tube reaches a position along the horizontal center line of the star wheel 52, the ends of a hanger are placed therein. The star wheel 52 continues on around with the tube engaged in the slot 53 so that the hanger is pulled downwardly and out of the way for the next hanger. As the hanger moves downwardly, it engages the inclined surface 55 which extends outwardly from the panel 20 and forces the hanger away from the fingers 24 and allows it to slide past them onto a conveyor of some suitable type. The star wheel assembly 52 is mounted on the brackets 56 as shown in the drawing and is driven by a remotely positioned motor (not shown) by means of the chain 57 and sprocket 58. The timing of the star wheel 52 must be such that when the arcuate slots are indexed along the horizontal center line of the star wheel, a hanger is then in position ready to be assembled with a tube.

It can now be seen that the invention provides a completely automatic apparatus for assembling the wire portions with the tubes. This apparatus is capable of producing the assembled unit at a relatively high rate. Furthermore, it is contemplated that the invention could be incorporated into an assembly line operation for manufactun'ng hangers of the type described, in which it would be the final step in the manufacturing process.

Although certain elements have been specified in the body of the specification, it is to be understood that they are merely by way of example and not to be construed in any manner as a limitation. It is apparent that certain modifications may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus for assembling garment hangers characterized by a wire portion including two struts separated by a tubular member, the combination comprising a screw mechanism for conveying the wire portions from a source of supply, a hook member mounted adjacent said screw mechanism for lifting the wire portions therefrom, means adjacent the hook member for spreading and releasing the struts of the wire portions, said means including a rotatably mounted eccentric mechanism, motor mechanism drivingly connected to said eccentric mechanism, and a pair of fingers drivingly connected to said eccentric mechanism for reciprocation in the opposite directions relative to each other between spreading and releasing positions, said hook member being drivingly connected to said eccentric mechanism, whereby said hook releases the wire portion so that the struts embrace both of said fingers, and means mounted adjacent said pair of fingers for detachably receiving the tubular members from a source of supply and positioning the same between the struts when the latter are in a spread position, whereby said struts when released will engage the ends of said tubular member, said last named means adapted to remove the assembled garment hanger from the pair of fingers.

2. An apparatus for assembling garment hangers, characterized by a wire portion including two struts separated by a tubular member comprising a supporting structure, a pair of fingers mounted on said supporting structure and adapted to be reciprocated in opposite directions relative to each other between spreading and releasing positions, an eccentric mechanism mounted on said supporting structure drivingly connected to said pair of fingers for reciprocating the same, motor mechanism connected to said eccentric mechanism for driving the same, a screw mechanism associated with said supporting structure for conveying the wire portions from a suitable source, a hook pivotally mounted adjacent said screw mechanism for removing said wire portion therefrom, and releasing the same so that the struts circumvent said pair of fingers when the latter are in a releasing position, said hook being drivingly connected to said eccentric mechanism for pivotal motion and rotatable disk mechanism having means for detachably receiving the tubular members from a source of supply and positioning the same between the struts when the latter are in a spread position, whereby said struts when released will engage the ends of said tubular member, said rotatable disk mechanism adapted to remove the assembled garment hanger from the pair of fingers.

3. An apparatus for assembling garment hangers characterized by a wire portion including two struts sepparated by a tubular member comprising a supporting structure, a pair of fingers mounted on said supporting structure adapted to be reciprocated in opposite directions relative to each other between spreading and releasing positions for the struts of said wire portion, an eccentric mean mounted on said supporting structure drivingly connected to said fingers for reciprocating the same, motor mechanism drivingly connected to said eccentric mechanism, a screw mechanism associated at one end with said supporting structure for conveying the wire portions from a suitable source, a hook pivotally mounted for conveying the wire portions from said screw mechanism and releasing the same so that the struts circumvent said pair of fingers when the latter are in a relasing position, said hook being drivingly connected to said eccentric mechanism, guide means mounted on said supporting structure for detachably holding the wire portion while the same is being assembled to the tubular member, and rotatable disk mechanism having means for detachably receiving the tubular members from a source of supply and positioning the same between the struts when the latter are in a spread position whereby said struts when released will engage the ends of said tubular member, said rotatable disk mechanism adapted to remove the assembled garment hanger from the pair of fingers.

4. An apparatus for assembling garment hangers characterized by a wire portion including two struts sep mated by a tubular member comprising a supporting structure, a pair of fingers mounted on said supporting structure adapted to be reciprocated in opposite directions relative to each other between spreading and releasing positions for the struts of the wire portion, an eccentric mean mounted on said supporting structure drivingly connected to said pair of fingers for reciprocation of the same, motor mechanism drivingly connected to said eccentric mechanism, a screw mechanism associated at one end with said supporting structure for conveying the wire portions from a suitable source, a hook pivotally mounted for removing the wire portions from said screw mechanism and releasing the same so that the struts circumvent said pair of fingers when the latter are in a substantially releasing position, said hook being drivingly connected to said eccentric mechanism for pivotal motion thereby, guide means mounted on said supporting structure for detachably holding the Wire portion while being assembled to the tube, rotatable disk mechanism having means for detachably receiving a tubular member from a source of supply and positioning the same between the struts when the latter are in a spread position, and a second guide means co-operating with said rotatable disk for removing the assembled garment hanger from said pair of fingers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 Hoover *Feb. 20, 1934 

